Moray duo's business flourishes

A MORAY floristry business is coming into full bloom after being shortlisted for a national award.

Forres-based Wild Blossom is in the running to be crowned Most Enterprising Business at the Association of Scottish Businesswomen Awards (ASB), which will be held in Edinburgh on Saturday, September 14.

It has been an incredible 12 months for owners Bev Alexander and Caroline Byrne, who won Most Promising Enterprise at the Moray Chamber of Commerce Awards and were also winners of the Most Enterprising Business at the Moray Business Women Awards, which opened the door to the ASB Awards. They were also finalists in the Scottish Wedding Awards.

Bev said: "We are thrilled to be in the final and while winning the regional category in Moray made us eligible for the Scottish final, we still had to enter again which included attending a panel interview in Edinburgh, so it means a lot that we got through.

"We are also up against some other great companies, so while it would be lovely to win, to even be in the final among other strong contenders means a lot to us."

Wild Blossom was founded in 2015 after a chance encounter at the school gates. Bev said: "We just got chatting as our children were coming out of school. Caroline’s background is floristry whereas mine has mainly been in the hospitality sector. At around the time we met, a local floristry business came on the market and while we didn’t buy it, it gave us food for thought.

"The tourism and events sector in Moray was growing at the time and still is, and we realised that we could provide a bespoke service, not just doing wedding, sympathy and celebration bouquets, but offering something more."

The business runs from a base on Waterford Road. The duo have taken floristry work to another scale by creating installations for corporate clients and also running workshops.

Caroline said: "What we offer is very different to a shop-run florist and I think that is why we have been shortlisted in the category. I think the judges understood our vision.

"We are much more involved now in production floristry and installations. We can take a client brief and fulfil those needs. This often means creating structures to hold floral displays. We are often up on scaffolding, dressing whole rooms or areas. It’s floristry and a whole lot more.

"We also do workshops where people can come and learn a skill and a growing part of the business is event management and prop hire."

The pair's vision for the future is developing shoots too. Caroline said: "We will expand on the prop hire which there is quite a lot of demand for, but another area which is starting to grow is the house plant industry.

"This is becoming very popular with businesses who want to bring the outside in but who don’t have a weekly spend for flowers that they will have to replace. Instead they use their budget on permanent indoor plant displays which we provide and then hand over to them, with advice on how to care for them."

Bev added: "It’s actually a very exciting time for the business. We are looking to expand the premises and we will soon be recruiting as well. We are very pleased with the development since we launched in 2015 and being nominated for this award makes all the hard work worth it."

Do you want to respond to this article? If so, click here to submit your thoughts and they may be published in print.